Smashing Pumpkins‘ have added more mystery to who will be playing bass in their current ‘reunion’ incarnation, as the band appear to have finished in the recording studio.
However, Corgan then shot down the chances that either he, Iha or Schroeder would be filling in bass duties – before downplaying Wretsky’s past role and musical contributions to the band.
Now, Corgan has shared more photos from the studio. The first shows recording equipment, labelled to show that Corgan, Iha and Shroeder will all be playing guitar, but another is simply labelled ‘bass’.
However, the good news is that the band appeared to have finished in the studio, after Corgan showed a photo of the set up after Chamberlin’s drum kit had been dismantled and spoke of progress approaching the final stages. Work has been swift for the band, with Corgan singing five songs in one day.
“OK, so today is absolutely, officially the last day of studio work,” wrote Corgan, “and it will be a fun one as we are recording live strings for a few songs I’ve done the arrangements for. The pic here is of me at an M400 Mellotron (think the opening of Strawberry Fields and you get the picture).”
Sharing a photo of drum mics, Corgan added: “A pic of the post-drum apocalypse. Sang 5 songs today with a bit of a croak in throat, as this bug persists. But got some lyric fixes in, did some string arranging on 2 songs via an M400 #mellotron, and am set to finish up the work tomorrow. With live strings on Wednesday. Go-go-go…”
After revealing that the legendary Rick Rubin would be producing the record, Corgan extended studio time last week as he had over 26 songs “in various states of completion, production, insanity”. Due to the wealth of material, fans are now speculating that this could lead to yet another Pumpkins’ double album – following on from their seminal ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ and their ‘final’ albums before their initial split, ‘Machina I/Machina II’.
Release information and tour dates from the band are expected in the coming months, however, this post on the Smashing Pumpkins’ own Instagram suggests that news will be coming soon: